Published: March 18, 2025 | Source: Samsung | Author: Tom Logan

Samsung 9100 Pro 2TB Review

Conclusion and Video

Conclusion

We said in our introduction that Samsung are often at the forefront when it comes to maximising the latest storage technologies. Particularly when it comes to each generation of PCI Express. PCIe 5.0 has an insane amount of bandwidth and the Samsung 9100 Pro uses every last drop.

It’s rare for any drive to really crush the competition like the 9100 Pro has. We’ve already got some very fast drives in our graphs. A lot of PCIe 5.0 ones, whether it’s the Gigabyte Aorus G5 or one of the many Sabrent Rockets. Usually at that end of the graph there is some movement amongst the truly fast stuff. Each drive jostling for position because of the slight gains or deficits. The Samsung 9100 Pro has no such shoulder-to-shoulder variance. Only the Anvil read and write IOPS benchmarks is it headed at all, and even then by only one other drive. That’s the level of bus saturation Samsung have managed to achieve. It’s not just fast in sequential tests, but in every test.

What is the price of all this performance? Actually less than we expected. Samsung are producing a 8TB model in the Autumn, but for now we have 1, 2 and 4TB models available. They are priced at £150, £223 and £406 respectively. Today’s 2TB model looks like the price capacity sweet spot. Given the rumoured size of some upcoming AAA gaming titles, we need all the capacity we can get. The other issue is the more obvious one of heat. As anyone with a passing knowledge of the First Law of Thermodynamics will tell you, Work is Heat. The 9100 Pro is putting in a lot of work. In our torture test we got some toasty temperatures, but not to the detriment of performance. It’s impressive how consistent the newest Samsung drive is. In more regular use it’s cooler than your processor or graphics card.

If you’ve been waiting to upgrade to a PCI Express 5.0 system until there was a drive capable of using every ounce of performance, this is your alarm call. The Samsung 9100 Pro is blindingly fast, and wins our OC3D Performance Award.